Police praised for handling of mosque demo (From Harrow Times)
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Call for government action after Harrow mosque riot
11:52am Tuesday 15th September 2009 in News
Police have been praised after coming under attack at the protest outside Harrow Central Mosque.
A LEADING Harrow councillor has heaped praise on police for their handling of last week's riot outside Harrow Central Mosque.
Councillor Susan Hall, deputy leader of Harrow Council, said residents of Harrow are “completely indebted” to the police for the way Friday's events were handled.
She said: “I can't have enough praise for them, they were courteous and calm despite being pelted with bottle and stones. They couldn't have handled it better.
“Police were just there, not kettling anyone, not doing anything confrontational. It was a highly combustible situation and we are completely indebted to them.”
Cllr Hall, who was instrumental in planning for the day alongside police, stood on the front line with officers as they were confronted by hoards of angry young Asian men hurling abusive and pelting them with missiles.
She condemned the violence, but insisted the troublemakers were not part of the Harrow community.
She said: “These hooligans were not Harrow people, they were just outsiders on the lookout for a fight.
“It was mostly people under the age of 30 and you could see when they started gowning up with masks over their faces.
“I think those few far-right protesters who ventured further afield than Harrow and Wealdstone Station directly owe their good health to the police cordon which shielded them from the baying mob.”
In the aftermath of the violence on Friday, which marred an earlier show of unity and solidarity for the mosque in the face of a protest from a group called Stop the Islamisation of Europe, Cllr Hall called on the government to look at rules governing extremist protests.
She said: “The Government has to look at the whole way it allows certain demonstrations.
“We had extremists from both sides trying to come here and fight against something.
"People should be allowed to demonstrate, but some of these kids were just looking for a fight, and I think the Government should step in.”
Comments(4)
sonoo malkani
says...
2:33pm Tue 15 Sep 09
Its high time the rights of ALL our citizens are considered ,not only those of protestors,peaceful or otherwise.
Government must tighten up these rules right away and not allow our lives to be disrupted in this unseemly manner.We deserve better.We all pay our taxes and are entitled to a better deal for ALL of us.
The people at Harrow Central Mosque also did a marvellous job and went out of their way to appeal for calm.Our Councillors and politicians went out among the crowds, to try and monitor the situation. Our own communities, belonging to Harrow, were most co-operative.Cannot praise that enough!
We resent being victimised by people from outside,with their own agendas,pouring into our borough and causing pandemonium.This is just NOT ON.
The entire situation turned sour, later in the day,no thanks to self-styled "protectors" of Harrow,who did NOT belong to our community.Harrovians believe in and practice non-violence.
Its high time any government in power took adequate steps to prevent disruptive and mischief-mongering groups of outsiders, from coming into largely peace-loving boroughs like ours.
Frankly,Harrow cannot afford the cost,both financially or in human terms ,of handling such mindless demonstrations.We need urgent changes made to protect all of us--including those tasked with our safety--and hooligans of every ilk kept out.
Grateful thanks to all those who helped assist in keeping the peace last Friday.
Its back to normal here.Please leave us alone, to get on with our lives.!
mom
says...
10:27pm Tue 15 Sep 09
DimSum
says...
11:04am Sat 19 Sep 09
Keep up the great work Gentlemen.
jackdaw says...
1:37pm Tue 15 Sep 09
The extremists (both sides) have now returned from whence they came and left Harrow with the job of rebuilding community cohesion and I suspect a rather large bill for the policing.